Surfing the Web may be inherently unsecure, but
fortunately Internet Explorer 8 comes with lots of defensive weapons
that you can deploy. The next few sections take a look at the most
important ones.
Blocking Pop-Up Windows
Among
the most annoying things on the Web are those ubiquitous pop-up windows
that infest your screen with advertisements when you visit certain
sites. (A variation on the theme is the pop under,
a window that opens under your current browser window, so you don’t
know it’s there until you close the window.) Pop-up windows can also be
dangerous because some unscrupulous software makers have figured out
ways to use them to install software on your computer without your
permission. They’re nasty things, any way you look at them.
Fortunately,
Microsoft has given us a way to stop most pop-ups before they start.
Internet Explorer comes with a feature called the Pop-up Blocker
that looks for pop-ups and prevents them from opening. It’s not perfect
(the occasional pop-under still breaks through the defenses), but it
make surfing sites much more pleasant. Follow these steps to use and
configure the Pop-up Blocker:
1. | Select Tools, Pop-up Blocker.
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2. | If
you see the command Turn Off Pop-up Blocker, skip to step 3; otherwise,
select Turn On Pop-up Blocker, and then click Yes when Internet
Explorer asks you to confirm.
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3. | Select
Tools, Pop-up Blocker, Pop-up Blocker Settings to display the Pop-up
Blocker Settings dialog box. You have the following options:
- Address of Web Site to Allow— Use this option when you have a site that displays pop-ups you want to see. Type the address and then click Add.
- Play a Sound When a Pop-up Is Blocked—
When this check box is activated, Internet Explorer plays a brief sound
each time is blocks a pop-up. If this gets annoying after a while,
deactivate this check box.
- Show Information Bar When a Pop-up Is Blocked—
When this check box is activated, Internet Explorer displays a yellow
bar below the address bar each time it blocks a pop-up so that you know
it’s working on your behalf.
- Blocking Level—
Use this list to choose how aggressively you want it to block pop-ups:
High (no pop-ups get through, ever), Medium (the default level), or Low
(allows pop-ups from secure sites).
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4. | Click Close.
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With
the Pop-Up Blocker on the case, it monitors your surfing and steps in
front of any pop-up window that tries to disturb your peace. A yellow
information bar appears under the
address bar to let you know that Pop-up Blocker thwarted a pop-up.
Clicking the information bar displays a menu with the following choices:
Temporarily Allow Pop-Ups— Click this command to enable pop-ups on the site only during the current session.
Always Allow Pop-Ups from This Site— Click this command to allow future pop-ups for the current domain.
Settings—
Click this command to see a submenu with three commands: Click Turn Off
Pop-Up Blocker to turn off the feature entirely; click Show Information
Bar for Pop-Ups to tell Internet Explorer to stop displaying the
information bar for each blocked pop-up; and click Settings to display
the Pop-Up Blocker Settings dialog box.
